Kustom Bitz

26/10/2026

Rob Roy Hill Climb interclub challenge last month. Photos by Chris Barbour. Me driving my Model A ..... pretending I've got talent 😁 .... it is a lot of fun and quite challenging. An unforgiving track for mistakes as I found out on the day 🤔, going a bit too fast and had a big slide ..... fun as. The Model A is by no means a race car, however it behaves very nicely and quite predictable.

The MG car club run the venue Rob Roy Hill Climb and put on great events. The next event is the 34th Historic and Classics on 22nd November 2026. Lots of interesting old race cars turn up at this event so come along, its a good day out and close to Melbourne.

13/10/2026

36 Willys Sedan Delivery - B pillar fabricated and repro 32 Ford Truck hinges fitted in recessed mounts. I finished this chassis last year before the move, now I have built the floor frame, fitted the cowl and framed it inside.

I've made a new firewall, transmission cover and started on the roof chop. The front doors are su***de style (hinged at the back) so to go any further on the body I had to get them swinging 😀 first. Originally the door frames were wood, same goes for the rest of the body, all wood frame.

It's taking shape now and is starting to look pretty tough.

01/09/2026

Ed from AustralianEVS visits Ron in the new Kustom Bitz workshop. Ed is doing leading work in developing EV kits for local classic cars. To think of it in more familiar terms, Ed is producing an EV equivalent to a crate engine for me to install in any classic car or Hot Rod. It is a very interesting time in the EV space.

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12/08/2026

Road trip to Whyalla Nostalgia Drags this October.

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08/07/2026

STREET MACHINE did an article on the Toyota ute last year. I've been that busy restructuring and moving the business over the last 12 months, I completely forgot until I stumbled across it this morning online. What a nice surprise, thanks for the kind words Kian. I get buried in the work day to day and an article like this when I see it, I think wow, did I do that? It's been a project of epic proportions that's for sure. I am looking forward to doing more work on it over the next few weeks so stay tuned.

Ron Smith is adding a whole lot of clever metalwork to a super-rare Toyota ute to make one neat, slammed cruiser

15/04/2026

One of the many split panel repairs on the Model A crew cab body.

07/04/2026

Before and After video of fitting a drag sway bar on the diff. The torque of this big block Ford on the 41 Willys first outing at Portland was phenomenal, but the body rolling over needed to be contained for consistency and predictable handling off the line. So I fitted a drag sway bar kit from Competition Engines. We went to Mildura and it was a great result, lowered the 60ft and consistent all weekend.

07/04/2026

29 Model A crew cab rear window rust repair. It was quite pitted and rusted through in spots, so I replaced that whole area.

31/03/2026

Model A crew cab - lower cab back panel is rough, well was rough, a 97 year old panel, its good to still be able to use it. It's one of those things if you change every original panel to a new one, when does it no be an old car anymore 😀

I've got it back to a point that'll be quite acceptable for a no frills body with matt paint. Before and after pics.

27/03/2026

29 Model A crew cab floor frame is coming along, a good foundation for the cab frame. I had to rework the bottom of the cowl to make it work with these fibreglass running boards and keep the bonnet edges square to the cowl top edge. Sheet metal gaps to be filled later. Bolt down bungs do not rely on the welds to hold body as they clamp the bottom of the tube, strong as.